Orissa farmers hold unique bull protest

Hundreds of farmers in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district staged a unique protest to highlight the damage caused to their vegetable crops by stray bulls and monkeys.

They marched to the block development officer's office with 50 bulls in tow.

The farmers staged the protest in front of the office of the block development officer at Balikuda town, some 75 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. They said they were forced to take the measure as their repeated appeals for help yielded no results.

Stray bulls and monkeys have been damaging and eating vegetable crops in more than 500 villages in the coastal district since the past several years. "This year they have already damaged and eaten the vegetable crops in several villages," farmer leader Prakash Sahani told IANS.

The block development officer Nigamananda Panda said steps are being taken to remove the stray bulls and moneys to other location so that they do not damage the fields.

"We have sought the help of the local veterinary officials in this regards," Panda, who was given a memorandum by the farmers, said.